Free guide
How to file a police report for a crypto scam
A police report gives you a report number that exchanges, banks and attorneys often ask for. Here's how to file one and what to bring.
Why file with the police
- You get a report number. Exchanges, banks and attorneys often ask for it.
- Exchanges generally act only on law enforcement or court requests to freeze funds or release account records.
- Records fade. A government agency can require an app or online service to preserve its records for 90 days.
- The FBI recommends it. For many scams, its guidance is to report to local police and to IC3.
5 steps to file your report
- 1
Find out how your department takes reports
Call your police department's non-emergency number and say you want to report a cryptocurrency fraud. Ask whether to file online, by phone or in person.
- 2
Bring your records
- A photo ID
- A short timeline, from first contact to last payment
- Each transfer: date, amount, coin, the address you sent to and the transaction ID
- How they contacted you, and every name, number, username, website and app they used
- Screenshots of your messages
- Your exchange and bank names, and any ticket numbers
- Your IC3 submission ID, if you've filed
- 3
Tell it in order
Start with how they first reached you and end with your last payment. Keep it short. The officer will ask questions.
- 4
Ask before you leave
Ask for the report number, the officer's name and badge number, how to add information later, and whether a detective or financial crimes unit will see it.
- 5
If they say crypto goes to the FBI
File with IC3 too, which you should do anyway. Then politely ask for an incident or report number for your records. Exchanges and attorneys often ask for one.
After you file
Keep the report number with your records and give it to your exchange. Police never charge you to take a report or to investigate. Anyone who asks for a fee to "speed up" your case is running a scam.
More free guides
- How to file with the FBI's IC3
- How to report a scam to your exchange
- How to find your transaction ID
- Pig butchering: what to do now
- Bitcoin ATM scam: what to do now
- Spotting fake police, FBI and government officials
- What happens after you report
- Check a recovery offer for red flags
- Crypto scam terms, in plain words
Sources
- FBI: Cryptocurrency investment fraud
- FBI public service announcement: guidance for cryptocurrency scam victims (2023)
- FBI public service announcement: scammers impersonating law enforcement and government officials (2026)
- 18 U.S.C. 2703(f): requirement to preserve evidence
Last checked against official guidance: November 2026.